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IlyaShpitser comments on Open Thread, May 4 - May 10, 2015 - Less Wrong Discussion
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Here's a blog post about how everyone hates each other over politics more than before. Eliezer commented on it on Facebook, hypothesizing that it's a slow-growing effect of the Internet.
I cursed aloud when I read that comment, because I've had that exact idea and an accompanying sick feeling for a while now, and this is the first time I've seen it repeated.
(it's never a good sign when Eliezer Yudkowsky is the one to express your deepest fears about why everything's and everyone's brokenness is unstoppably accelerating)
I wish to read more about the "The Internet Is Why We Can't Have Even The Few Nice Things We Almost Kind Of Once Had" phenomenon — hopefully from someone who thinks there's a way easier than developing Friendly AI to put even one evil back in Pandora's Box, but that's probably wishful thinking, and I want to read about it in any case.
(Note: I'm aware that the entire LW-affiliated rationalist community writes about how things are broken, and desires to teach people to be less broken. But right now I'm looking specifically for things about how the Internet's massive boon to free speech is way more double-edged than was anticipated.)
Anyone have any good links?
If you went to a party (meaning a social event) and started loudly proclaiming that anyone who does not vote for your favourite political party is a selfish git, people would tell you you were being rude, and you might be asked to leave (unless everyone there shares your views).
But on facebook, this sort of behaviour is perfectly acceptable. And once you get used to this online, it carries over into offline life. Faced with this onslaught, people with descenting views either shut up about it or change their views to match the majority.
I dunno if I use anecdotal evidence too much, but from my experience, five years ago it was possible for people to have different political views, to have a civilised conversation about policies, to agree to disagree. Now virtually everyone I know has the same political views and no-one discusses policies (you can't fit policies into a tweet, its too complex).
More generally I get the impression that even physical violence in the pursuit of political aims seems to be argued as justified more frequently, from rioting to throwing stones at politicians to angry jokes about arson against people who support the wrong party.
Tomorrow its the general election here in the UK. Five years ago I would have had several conversations about who to vote for, with no hard feelings on either side. This time, I'm not telling anyone I know in real life who I'm voting for, and all I can think is that all this anger isn't worth it, that posting a picture captioned "We have people who need jobs, we have jobs that need to be done, why don't we just print the money needed? Share if you agree!" is not a sensible way to determine macroeconomic policy, and that we would all be better off if people got into office through examinations or futarchy.
Consequences of being rude to people who disagree with you about something:
in real life -- lose friends
on internet -- gain pageviews
I've found that there's a risk of losing real life friends if you aren't careful about what you say online about politics.
Does the risk vary with position on the political spectrum?
Probably, but I've just got sketchy memories of what people say, which seems to mostly be people on the left getting sick of hearing right wing views. I know more people on the left, so there might be just as much of the converse.
Personally, I've got a friend who doesn't want me to defend rightwingers to her, and the friendship is worth enough to me that I'm not going to nag her about rightwingers being human, too. She can figure it out on her own-- or not-- without my help.
I think it depends on where you are; for example, ISTM that supporting animal testing, GMOs, and the like used to be pretty much taboo on Facebook in my country until a few years ago, and I would have felt very uncomfortable expressing ideas that could be construed no matter how broadly as speciesist on my Facebook wall, whereas today there is a sizeable metacontrarian current which is mostly tolerated except by extreme environmentalist wingnuts.
Interesting - where do you live?